Earlier this week, Emma Watson received the first gender-neutral award for Best Actor (Beauty And The Beast) at the MTV Movie & TV Awards. “It says something about how we perceive the human experience,” she said. The award was presented by Asia Kate Dillon, who plays TV’s first gender non-binary character (Taylor, on Billions).

Like other recent events, this added to the ongoing conversation on gender-fluidity.

For a culture like ours, with its thrust on uber masculinity and coy femininity, reconciling to this phenomenon may be shocking, but not impossible. While one knows androgyny to be the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics, ambiguity in gender could be a lifestyle, sexual or style choice.

Celebrities such as Miley Cyrus have identified themselves as pansexual, but perhaps it is young actor-rapper Jaden Smith’s bold outlook that has fired up the imagination. Will Smith’s son is seen wearing a skirt as part of Louis Vuitton’s Series 4 (Spring/Summer 2016) campaign about a heroine and the multiple facets to her personality. The brand’s creative director, Nicolas Ghesquière, believes Smith “represents a generation that has assimilated the codes of true freedom, one that is free of manifestos and questions about gender. Wearing a skirt comes as naturally to him as it would to a woman who, long ago, granted herself permission to wear a man’s trench or a tuxedo”.

Androgynous roots

Le Smoking, Yves Saint Laurent by Helmut Newton

Worldwide, sartorial acceptance tipped when the founders of two path-breaking French haute couture houses, Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent, gave women trousers and tuxedos in the early and mid- 20th century, respectively. Many male music legends have flirted with everything from make-up and heels to ruffles and florals, but it was David Bowie (in his sexually ambiguous Ziggy Stardust persona) and Prince (in his flamboyant Purple Rain-era) who cut the sartorial cord with their seminal style statements. More recently, American hip hop artiste Young Thug wore a dress for his album cover, while British footballer David Beckham has been spotted in nail paint and a sarong.

Historically, pre-colonial India saw no issue in dressing up its men, particularly royalty; the traditional male outfits of Gujarat and Rajasthan are adorned with colours, mirrors and gathers, while drapes like shawls, anarkalis, lungis, kurtas, salwars and churidars have been a long-standing part of India’s unisex fashion grammar. Even as the idea trickles down—Tridha, a school in Mumbai, has genderless uniforms (a short kurta students can wear with lowers of their choice)—in a country that lends exaggerated importance to binary sexuality, fashion is setting a new pace for a forward-thinking society.

Beyond binaries

A model wearing Rajesh Pratap Singh.

Designer Rajesh Pratap Singh, who has an affinity towards androgyny, finds the audience for unisex clothing limited. “As women found independence and emancipation once again in India, wearing men’s clothing is considered stylish in most urban areas, but it doesn’t hold true for most parts of the country,” he points out.

What is true though is that modern silhouettes for the local landscape increasingly tend to be sleeker, deconstructed or fluid, shaped according to will, body type and occasion. From anarkalis to dhoti pants, from cholis to shirt-blouses, we have made a shift in styles, and increased the functional element of formal wear. But are women able to take the leap to wearing perhaps a tuxedo to an Indian wedding? Mumbai-based designer Payal Khandwala, whose lines for women are largely anti-fit, says: “It (gender-fluid dressing) will be a parallel movement. The bright side is that it makes us question the male gaze we have taken for granted and re-examine our preoccupation with ‘pretty’ and ‘hyper-sexualized’ clothing for women.”

Unisex clothing creates ambiguity towards age, shape and size, naturally defying the restrictions imposed, stereotypes perpetuated and social comment invited by accentuating and fitted garments. While many designers locally have nailed the anti-fit trend, there have been attempts, such as the “Ungendered” clothing line released online last year by Zara, that faced flak for its unimaginative designs. Unisex outfits shouldn’t be drab, shapeless or colourless—rather, they should be a celebration of clothing that is chic while being free of conservative parameters.

A model wearingGucci.

Women in menswear may be de rigueur, but men in women’s clothing is certainly up for exploration. A key designer of genderless fashion, J.W. Anderson’s Fall 2013 collection sent a male model on the runway in ruffled shorts and knee-high boots, showing off muscular, hairy legs. Singer Pharrell Williams, who likes Chanel necklaces, has starred in the couture house’s Gabrielle bag campaign this year. International luxury brands like Gucci (whose fluid vision under creative director Alessandro Michele has been touted as inspired and sound) have “genderless” models—those without an associated gender—on the runway, also unifying men’s and women’s fashion weeks. Michele stated last year, “It’s the way I see the world today.”

It was a “fluid-packed” fall 2016, with Burberry harking back to Bowie-esque ruffled shirts for men and military-style jackets (also seen in Givenchy’s campaign) for women, along with gender-neutral trench coats.

A model wearing J.W. Anderson.

Bungalow 8 founder Maithili Ahluwalia is unimpressed by men in skirts. “It is not a natural evolution, it is fashion. A man’s body is structured differently and it is a bit limiting to think that what works for one may work for the other. It should be a mindset over a sartorial choice, not a surface-level relationship with fashion. Would a man wear gender-fluid clothing to work, particularly if he works in a bank?” she asks. Possibly, if he is anything like actor Ranveer Singh, who has turned red-carpet dressing on its head with his penchant for aggressive experimentation—of course, creative professions do allow for more sartorial freedom.

Delhi designer Ujjawal Dubey, founder of label Antar-Agni, whose styles are “androgynous and flattering to both the sexes, avoiding stark lines and labels between genders”, believes India is primed for change. So does Sumiran Kabir Sharma, whose new label Anaam is said to “dissolve all stereotypes”. Sharma works as “a silhouette generation artist, not focusing on the physical and the biological part of the human body that defines gender”. According to him, going genderless is not a passing phase—“it is definitely the future of fashion”.

A model in an Anaam piece.

Kolkata-based designer Kallol Datta, who started out making (and wearing) gender-neutral clothing, is now moving towards “sexless clothing, where there is no acknowledgement of gender”. “I’ve favoured all-enveloping shapes and certain proportions when layering pieces of clothing…there is a blurring of lines with these shapes.”

Going genderless

If the male gaze changes, so may the female gaze. In Tokyo, following the explosive trend of “genderless kei” (kei means style), “genderless boys” have appeared on the scene since 2015. The popular Japanese idols tend to be slim-bodied, with dyed hair, make-up and nail polish, coloured contact lenses, and attention-grabbing outfits. They are not necessarily gay or trying to be like women, they are rejecting gender norms and establishing a new yardstick of style. It’s likely inspired by the Korean term ulzzang (“best face”), a common beauty standard for both men and women derived from the “flawless” K-Pop idols.

In America, Marilyn Manson’s genderless Mechanical Animals cover set the tone years ago but today, gender-neutral models like Rain Dove have gained supermodel status. Dove’s Instagram page says: “I’m not a Boy. I’m not a Girl either. I am I.” And further, “Sometimes I like lace panties. Sometimes I like briefs. It’s my body…. And I’ll cover it however I damn please.”

Today, numerous designers worldwide offer unisex lines of clothing, and stores like Selfridges in London stock an “Agender Fashion Without Definition” collection across three storeys, suggesting that the trend is more than that—it’s a new way of life.

Fashion should cater seamlessly to one’s individuality, without leaning towards homogeneity. Khandwala agrees: “At its core, what one wears must be a democratic decision that comes from a place of honesty and self-evaluation. The impetus cannot be external and certainly not because it is a fashion movement.”

Is the potential dissolution of gender a fantasy of the future or a reality of today? As predefined roles get blurry, so does the way we dress. And we should find our voice in that freedom. Worldwide, as socio-politico-religious mindsets get narrower, perhaps it is fashion’s lot to expressively push back as the non-conformist and heterogenous “genderless uniform” of a truly inclusive and free-spirited society where it is, literally, best face forward.

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How we got here

A brief sartorial history of the blurring of gender lines

Coco Chanel

1910s: Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel changed women’s relationships with their bodies and ways of life by introducing them to trousers and jersey sportswear.

Katharine Hepburn

1930s: Katharine Hepburn’s path-breaking attachment to men’s shirts bought secretly from the back of New York’s Brooks Brothers store and Marlene Dietrich’s seminal moment kissing a woman on screen while wearing a bow tie and top hat.

‘I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.’ Robert Louis Stevenson

We’re sold on the beautiful travel images that capture monochrome moments from the cities. The ones above are from their newest cities, Chicago, Prague and Rome. Having been familiar with the beautifully produced hard-bound editions of Louis Vuitton’s colour-coded city guides (available in box sets as well), the just-launched app is a traveller’s dream come true. Lavish photos (taken by imaginative photography creative Tendance Floue) with an expansive lens-eye, an attractive and friendly user interface, the little category bubbles open up a world of painstakingly-collected information. But they already had us at the opening quotes, which change each time you access the app, like the one by Stevenson.

Cafes that tell tales of day dreaming artists and authors, museums that paint a picture of a different time, streets that exude a ‘haute’ aura that has nothing to do with the ability to buy or sell. It speaks of a state of mind – the desire to experience the city through the eyes of the like-minded locals.

A team of 50 experts, including those from the cities being covered, contribute content making it a comprehensive guide to 25 of the world’s most popular cities: fashion capitals, centres for contemporary art, beach towns and business hubs. The best part? The Parisian guide is available for free until the end of this month (the others cost €9.99 or US$9.99 in the App Store).

Here’s what you can do:

1. LOCATION, LOCATION It’s a snap to find any address on these easy-to-read maps, available offline. In location-aware mode, you can see all nearby businesses and points of interest, zoom in and refine your results by topic. With the search engine, you can switch to list mode.

2. LITTLE BLACK BOOK Create and view your address book of favourites at any time.

3. POSTCARD FROM PARIS Send your loved ones a photo from your camera or from the guide’s gallery of pictures. Personalise your postcard and share your travel memories by using the filter in the colour of each city.

What’s more…

1. CONTRIBUTORS OF CALIBRE Each Louis Vuitton City Guide includes the participation of special guest contributors, who speak from personal experience of their home cities. Local celebrities or insiders open their personal address books and divulge several secret preferred haunts. For example, Prince M.L. Poomchai Chumbala suggests some of the elegant highlights to discover in Bangkok, while the film director Ivan Zachariáš takes the reader for a stroll around his favourite parts of central Prague.

2. LANGUAGE OF WORTH The guide is available in English and French options.

3. COLLABORATORS UNITE Louis Vuitton reaches out to journalists, writers, major figures in the world of arts and letters, many of whom divide their time between two cities; several authors often collaborate on one city, and each guide reflects the personalities of its contributors.

4. (UN)COVERED If you plan to go the whole hog they also have a small leather case with the Monogram pattern, for the iPad and iPhone (6 and 6 Plus); they come in four extra colors inspired by the city collection: blue for Paris, yellow for Rome, red for Beijing and pink for Tokyo.

Did you know?

Louis Vuitton has operated its own publishing house for some fifteen years and today offers a catalogue of more than 80 titles, including two collections focused on travel: its City Guides and Travel Books. Gaston-Louis Vuitton (1883–1970), grandson of the founder, was an avid collector and keen bibliophile, whose tastes ranged from literature to art books; he founded three bibliophile societies. When the Louis Vuitton store on the Champs-Elysées opened its doors in 1914, it already featured a comfortable reading and letter-writing room for its customers. This tradition continues into the present day at the Louis Vuitton bookstores.

How does a weave become a work of art? Not just in beautiful clothes, or in theGodharis of Maharashtra exhibition, but in the way Espaces Louis Vuitton celebrates new and contemporary artworks using the medium of thread. The Espaces of Munich, Paris and Tokyo have been powered with an exhibition that lasts the first half of 2015.

Curated by Michiko Kono, eight international artists take part in the group show, Le fil rouge which translated means ‘the red thread’. Each Espace showcases the work of four of the eight artists, referencing the theme and the other artists’ works in a three-way dialogue. The series opens with embroidery-based works in Munich to site-specific installations in Paris and ends with a summary of the theme in Tokyo.

Referencing the images from the gallery above, Japanese artist, Chiharu Shiota’s work is an installation of lightbulbs suspended in space and entangled by thread, switching on and off; exploring her interest in life and death. Italian artist, Tatiana Trouvé’s installation of 250 suspended plumb lines hovering barely above ground level struggling (and failing to) achieve a vertical stance – suggest the indecipherability between the absurd and the rational, the possible and the unimaginable. In his new film, the Belgian Hans Op de Beeck, employs puppets exploring contemporary society’s complexities and universal questions of the meaning of life and mortality. His film, The Thread, will be shown at all three Espaces. The other artists are Ghada Amer, Tracey Emin, Isa Melsheimer, Michael Raedecker and Fred Sandback.

The release note remarks: ‘Unlike pencil and paint, thread is not linked to an intrinsic finality, and its materiality encourages infinite artistic expressions and explorations. Replacing the brush, thread in contemporary art is embroidered or glued onto the image carrier, and combined with paint. Canvas fragments are sewn together using thread. By stretching lengths of yarn at different scales and in varied configurations, it is employed to form sculptures, trace lines in space, reproduce architectural principles or seemingly suspend the laws of physics.’

It is essential to go back to thread as an art form, rather than a means to a fashionable end. To question the abstract nature of the medium and it’s physical place in society is to give it perspective and suggest relevance. It is also an emphatic way to revisualise the medium and possibly be inspired to suggest creative renditions that may change the face of fabric tomorrow.

Le fil rouge is showing at Espace Louis Vuitton München (Maximilianstraße 2a, 80539) until April 11, 2015; at Espace Louis Vuitton Paris (60, rue de Bassano, 75008) until May 3, 2015; and will be on at Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo (Louis Vuitton Omotesando Bldg. 7F 5-7-5 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku) from April 8 to May 31, 2015.

What do staged photographs and manga comic strips have in common? Espace Louis Vuitton Venezia presents an exhibit of more than 30 sketches and 25 photographs in a curated exhibit, Sguardi Incrociati a Venezia, starting today. Take a look….

Venice by Mariano Fortuny (below)

Louis Vuitton Travel Book Venice 2014, Jiro Taniguchi (below)

When art, fashion, travel and photography come together, it is always promising – and this one is a cracker of a combination. Japanese Manga artist, Jirô Taniguchi’s new works come on display next to the late painter, set designer and photographer, Mariano Fortuny’s photographs; with the two offering striking views on Venice.

The exhibition Sguardi Incrociati a Venezia, curated by art historian and author Adrien Goetz, displays more than 30 sketches, made by Jirô Taniguchi with 25 photographs by Mariano Fortuny held in the reserve collection of the Palazzo Fortuny, together with films and books, after meticulous restoration work (funded by Louis Vuitton as part of its partnership with the Fondazione Musei Civici Venezia).

The exhibit also launches the Louis Vuitton Venice Travel Book, designed by Jirô Taniguchi. The Louis Vuitton Travel Book collection attempts to embark upon “real and virtual voyages, enriched by intellectual stimulation and poignant moments”, filled with illustrations by artists that describe their own personal journeys.

The Sguardi Incrociati a Venezia Exhibition begins today, June 6, 2014 and lasts until November 18, 2014 at Espace Louis Vuitton Venezia, Calle del Ridotto 1353, 30124 Venezia. There is no entry charge; timings are 10.00 am to 7.30 pm.

The 160-year-old brand, Louis Vuitton, allows you to customise their products in 3 different ways. Verve guides you through the process….

I was floored when I heard that a gentleman had a custom-created Louis Vuitton case made just so that he could carry his mother’s homemade apple pie around in his travels. How does one go about customising a Louis Vuitton product? There are three distinct ways in which you can do so:

1. Special Order

WHAT This is a special creation, made specifically for people who want a custom Louis Vuitton case to carry something special like a guitar or their mother’s homemade apple pie, a baby bottle holder or a hair dresser’s trunk, or the famous Baroda tea case. With a specific concept in mind, you can sit with a brand representative (expect four-five meetings) and arrive at a sketch of the product you would like created. It is most likely based on something you have seen. You can then select the leather or canvas and choose the inside lining. Certain styles are non-negotiable. What that means is that certain styles can only be customized within boundaries, for instance, the Monogram canvas with gold fittings is linked to natural leather handles.WHERE The order can be placed in any Louis Vuitton flagship store.HOW One craftsman in France works on this piece from start to finish, and it can take up to six to eight months to complete.

2. Made to Order

WHAT It is a selection of products out of the Louis Vuitton permanent collection which are available for order in a selection of predefined exterior materials and interior linings. Any available product can be customized to some extent within the listed options.WHERE The order can be placed in any Louis Vuitton store.HOW This would take 1-3 months to complete.

3. Personalisation

(a) Hot StampingWHAT You can get a personalised ‘stamp’ on luggage tags, bags and wallets (depending on the style and material), at the time of purchase.WHERE This can be done at the store levelPRICE There is no cost involved.

(b) Mon Monogram
WHAT You can create a personalised monogram within the Louis Vuitton template. There are options designed according to the style of the bag. This can be done with initials as well. They are generally vertical stripes of varying colours, taking off from how royal families have their own colour codes.WHERE This is done on a few predefinedproducts before purchase. You can use the computerised simulation app at a flagship store.HOW This takes six to eight weeks to get done and the colour won’t scrape off. The application will also give you the exact delivery date and time once you are done making your choice.PRICE There is an additional cost for this.

(c) Hand paintingWHAT You can get your bag hand painted.HOW This can be done at the time of, or even after purchase, though the latter depends on the condition of the canvas.PRICE There is no cost involved.